Recent Stories with tag surveillance

(Photo: Boeing)

Boeing's new Phantom Eye prototype elicits a welter of contradictions in the environmental pacifist.

It's powered by two 2.3-liter, four-cylinder Ford Ranger engines that have been converted to hydrogen fuel.

If all goes as planned, it'll be able to cruise at 65,000 feet for up to four days. Plus, it looks kinda cute. How hard would it be to airbrush him into this picture?

On the other hand, the visual similarity of Phantom Eye to a cartoon bomb strapped to a wing is evidence of its genesis in the bowels of Boeing Defense, Space & Security. Darryl Davis, president of Boeing Phantom Works (and who doesn't dream, really, of having that title on your business card), is quoted as saying Phantom Eye will usher in a new era of "persistent intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance," and offer "game-changing opportunities for our military, civil and commercial customers."

With their 150-foot wingspan, future Phantom Eyes are envisioned as criss-crossing the globe at 150 knots (carrying up to a 450-pound payload). Boeing's goal is to extend the craft's time-in-air from four days to ten, so that three to four Eyes are all that would be necessary to provide portable global surveillance and communications. (Somewhere, Enemy of the State's keyhole satellite is sulking.)... (more)

One day in seventh grade, I was waiting for the #14 bus across from Washington Middle School when three teenage gang members approached this kid in my class. One gang member, who was wearing brass knuckles, suddenly punched the kid in the temple, knocking him cold.

A few teachers came out to check on the kid, who soon came to and staggered down the alley leading to Odessa Brown Childrens' Clinic, vowing revenge. No Metro security guards were there. No hidden cameras caught the scene. And so KING-5 didn't cover it. The Seattle Times was likewise silent.

Which is why you haven't heard about that beating until now, unlike that of a teenage girl in the bus tunnel, which occurred in the presence of Metro security people who did nothing to stop it, and a surveillance camera which caught the whole episode on tape. That sickening beating has sparked a fresh round of city-wide Metro-targeted outrage.

But consider this--if Metro hadn't deployed security to the bus tunnel, would a fight between teenagers even be a story? If Metro didn't have video surveillance, would the TV news be reporting it? The bad publicity Metro's getting stems from the agency's attempt to do the right thing.... (more)

If you're new to Seattle, you must first know that Medina is where Bill and Melinda Gates live. As the Seattle Times points out, the tiny hamlet of almost 3,200 souls has an average annual income of $222,000. But it turns out that crime is tough all over.

Last year, the number of burglaries almost doubled from the year before, from six to eleven, and the city council approved installing surveillance cameras that record the license plates of anyone who drives through town. The results are then sent off to a database. Police check for stolen cars or outstanding warrants for arrest.

A city council member named Lucius Biglow is quoted in the Times saying crime prevention "outweighs concern over privacy." I have to admit that the August police blotter looks just crammed with crime. And who knows, maybe it will help keep more Medina police officers from being accused of sexual assault.

But the last word on this, as is true in nearly all cases, comes from the comments section of Seattlepi.com: "It's a start, but... (more)